Jobs

Mayor Nutter has made a priority of trying to persuade Philadelphia's business leaders to hire ex-convicts as part of his plan to make the city safer. Now, having done so himself, the mayor has discovered there can be pitfalls. Six months after appointing an ex-inmate and former drug addict with a record for aggravated assault to lead a city office devoted to finding jobs for other ex-offenders, Nutter quietly demoted him. During his brief tenure as director of the Mayor's Office for the Reentry of Ex-offenders, Ronald L. Cuie nearly doubled his staff and overspent his budget to the point where the city has had to cancel a contract with a firm hired to find jobs for ex-inmates.

Since the Marcellus Shale boom began in 2008, there has been much debate and disagreement over the effect natural gas development would have on Pennsylvania's economy. Gov. Corbett, who found himself in the hot seat last week over his comments on the state's lagging employment rate, has promoted Pennsylvania as a rival to Texas as a regional energy hub. In his budget address this year, he talked about the energy sector creating "hundreds of thousands of new jobs. " Most economists credit the Marcellus Shale development with creating jobs and having a profound economic effect in the rural areas where drilling is taking place.

Washington is obsessed with the budget deficit. It's all that lawmakers can talk about. The hysteria is such that they can't even agree on raising the ceiling on the national debt. As for how much to cut out of the budget, some would settle on reduced spending in the billions. Others want much more. As one headline summed it up: "[House Speaker John] Boehner demands 'trillions' in spending cuts in exchange for lifting debt ceiling. " There's only one problem: Congress is wrought up over the wrong deficit.

By Dominic Pileggi There is a lot of good happening in my hometown of Chester, the oldest city in Pennsylvania. But as Chester continues to recover from the dramatic loss of industrial and manufacturing jobs, and the loss of half its population - about 38,000 people - between 1950 and 2000, government must work with companies to plant the seeds of long-lasting revitalization in the city as it has with other older waterfront communities in Delaware County....

GREER, S.C. - Facing efforts by his Republican rivals to paint him as a heartless corporate raider who preyed on struggling companies while working in private equity, Republican front-runner Mitt Romney stepped up his defense of his tenure at Bain Capital on Thursday, arguing that his goal had been to make businesses successful over the long term. Supporters of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have promised a "strong and sustained" campaign in the Palmetto State attacking Romney's career at Bain.

PRESIDENT Bush must be going crazy trying to understand the American public. First George W. ships a lot of good jobs overseas during his administration, and the people complain that we are losing good jobs here. Then he tries to bring in and legitimize the illegal aliens already here in order to do jobs that are still here and have those jobs stay here. The people complain about that, too. What do Americans want? Mayer Krain Philadelphia

THE president finally understands that creating jobs trumps everything else on his plate, and I expect him to make some fast progress fixing the broken economy. There are far too many people underwater economically, with only a few gasps of air left. From the outset of his administration, it was obvious that getting the economy on track and putting Americans back to work should have topped President Obama's agenda. I'm still scratching my head over why he thought people without jobs would be more concerned about health insurance than working, when they're just trying to keep a roof over their heads and buy groceries.

AGAIN, the anti-casino folks think they're winning the battle to delay the SugarHouse Casino. Residents who want this development have not only lived in Philadelphia all of their lives but many have lived in Fishtown all of their lives. We don't come from Boston or Ohio. We don't need another park or condo! We need something that will generate money and give us jobs! Donna Tomlinson, Board Member Fishtown Action

Gov. Corbett plans to give $350 million more to factory owners, developers, colleges, and museums later this year through a grant program against which he campaigned. Not all who ask receive. In recent weeks, more than 200 new pleas for Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) matching funds, totaling $900 million, have piled up in Harrisburg, and many more are expected, said Corbett spokesman Jay Pagni . Corbett approved 54 previous RACP proposals, totaling $125 million, this year.

Besides providing higher education in its classrooms, Rutgers University is an active partner for economic growth in New Jersey and the region. One example of that is the Rutgers-Camden Technology Campus Inc., a mixed-use business incubator that is generating the jobs, new business and innovations needed to create a diverse economic base. Currently home to 50 businesses (35 on-site and 15 virtual tenants), the incubator has netted exceptional economic development results during the last three years.

WASHINGTON - Five months into President Obama's second term, allies and former top aides worry that his overarching goal of economic opportunity has been diminished, partly drowned out by controversies seized upon by Republicans in an effort to weaken him. The former White House insiders, including longtime Obama adviser David Axelrod, say Obama needs to make his case anew for government's role in expanding education and innovation. Among their suggestions is that the president deliver a major address, perhaps at a commencement, that once again places his economic vision at the center of his agenda and speaks to what continues to be the overriding concern of the American public.

THE HUSBAND of City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown - who admitted earlier this year to a series of campaign-finance violations - was laid off last week from his job at the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority for budgetary reasons, officials say. But a source familiar with the decision said information that surfaced about Howard Brown certainly didn't help. In March the City Paper reported that Brown, 57, who worked with PRA for 10 years as an assistant director of administration, was $4,200 behind in taxes.

The scoreboard has been kind to the Phillies. While they slip, slide and fall in their modest pursuit of reaching .500, the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals have failed to pull away. It's hard to believe that any team could have a worse on-base percentage than the .304 the Phillies have posted through 41 games. But five teams do, and the Nationals, at .292, are one of them. The Braves, meanwhile, started 13-2 and have gone 9-16 since. The misfortune of others will not matter if the Phillies cannot fix their myriad problems.

CHICAGO - In another three months, Sam Hinkie hopes to relocate his family and begin house hunting. For now, the 76ers' new general manager and president of basketball operations - the guy with perhaps the toughest job in Philly - is preoccupied with salvaging a franchise. Hinkie's most urgent tasks are hiring a coach and assessing draft prospects at the NBA draft combine. "Yeah, my family is in Houston," Hinkie, a former executive with the Rockets, said Thursday, his third day on his new job. "I left them when I came to the press conference [in Philadelphia]

THERE'S NO SHORTAGE of potential candidates being floated for the 2015 race for mayor. The latest name: city Managing Director Richard Negrin . One prominent City Hall lobbyist said Negrin met with him to discuss the 2015 race. "He is indeed exploring a run," the lobbyist said. And several Philly politicos said members of Negrin's staff talk about him considering it. "I've heard it from his people, the ones who go with him everywhere," says a City Hall source.

Now that 76ers majority owner Joshua Harris has gotten his man, Sam Hinkie, the team's new general manager can begin a quest for his own: a new coach. Hinkie was introduced Tuesday as the team's new GM and president of basketball operations. Taking over for Tony DiLeo, who lasted as GM less than one year, Hinkie talked about the search for a coach to replace Doug Collins. He also talked about Andrew Bynum and about his philosophy for repairing the Sixers after their disastrous 34-48 season.

* THE OFFICE RETROSPECT. 8 p.m., NBC 10. * THE OFFICE finale. 9 to 10:15 p.m., NBC 10. WHEN NBC's "The Office" signs off tonight, Ardmore's Kate Flannery will be leaving her longest job ever - nine seasons as Meredith Palmer, "Office" alcoholic and all-'round good-time girl. Flannery, a comedian whose education at Archbishop John Carroll High School and University of the Arts no doubt prepared her for anything, gave us an exit interview. Here - with some condensing - is how it went: Is this your only office job?

If Chip Kelly drafted Matt Barkley, a quarterback virtually no one thought he could be interested in, then there is no reason to think that he can't start this season. History says fourth-round quarterbacks hardly ever start in the NFL, let alone as rookies. But the NFL is evolving and in certain segments becoming more like the college game than vice versa. And there's something about the Great Kelly Unknown that suggests anything is possible. There are some pertinent reasons to support Barkley's candidacy, among them his decision-making, accuracy, and moxie.

Earl Wolff already has mastered one aspect of winning the approval of Eagles fans. The safety cited the franchise's icon at that position as his inspiration. "Before I even started playing safety, I watched Brian Dawkins," said Wolff, the Eagles' fifth-round pick out of North Carolina State. "Once I made that move to safety, that's when I fell in love with him. Honestly, my first couple of years, that's what I watched before the games. I'd put on a Brian Dawkins highlight film, and now I'm here.

Gov. Corbett plans to give $350 million more to factory owners, developers, colleges, and museums later this year through a grant program against which he campaigned. Not all who ask receive. In recent weeks, more than 200 new pleas for Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) matching funds, totaling $900 million, have piled up in Harrisburg, and many more are expected, said Corbett spokesman Jay Pagni . Corbett approved 54 previous RACP proposals, totaling $125 million, this year.